Will and Heart!

A year at a glance.. .. I can't believe it's been almost exactly a year since we left for Ethiopia.  That was seriously like a breath of air, a blink of an eye, passing through a town with one stop light.  I've tried to document all the events that have happened throughout the past year.

Reading back over the blog tonight I realized that I don't think I've ever described what Porter has went through in his short existence.  It would probably be a big deal if any 10 day old had pneumonia, or a 3 or 4 month old had Malaria, or if a 11 mo old had salmonella poisoning.  Well our son, Porter along with about 5 ear infections since, went through all of it.  The first year of Porter's life was definitely filled with sickness.

He is a survivor.. he is strong.. he has will.. and a determination in which I will never know other when than I look into his eyes and hear his heart beat.

Recently his friend Sara at school, was bullied by another classmate who wanted Sara's breakfast.  Porter has been at daycare with Sara, since I went back to work.  "the bully" wanted Sara's breakfast; Porter blocked the bully from taking it.  "the bully" went to the other side of the table to take Sara's breakfast, once again Porter put himself between "the bully" and Sara.  Obviously at this point it could just be random.  But when "the bully" tried to take Sara's toy.... Porter took matters into his own hands and made sure there was no way Sara's toy was getting taken.

You can interpret this two ways.  Porter may have a crush on Sara?  Which Sara's Dad and I both agree that they both are way too young for any type of love-flame.  Or you can say that the boy has protection intuition.  Heart isn't something you teach, it's something you're born with.

When I think of heart, I think of Porter's birth father.  When I looked into Alaro (Porter's Birth Father) eyes I saw kindness, love, and most of all a pure sole.  This man, and his beautiful wife passed on an instinct that can't be taught, and true heart of gold.

Bless Alaro for giving us the majestic gift of our precious son!   There are no words to express our gratitude for your selfless act.